Members of the Ecclesiastical Law Society gathered at the Queen's Hotel in Leeds on the weekend of Passion Sunday for the biennial residential conference. The theme of the establishment of the Church of England was set against the backdrop of continued public debate about the place of religion in public life, exemplified on the one hand by calls for reform of such marks of ‘high’ establishment as the Act of Settlement and the presence of bishops in the House of Lords and on the other hand by the considerable furore surrounding the extension of the provision of state-funded faith schools. The scene was set with papers by Bob Morris of University College London and Roger Trigg of Kellogg College, Oxford. Morris and Trigg offered very different views of the nature and value of establishment in the present day and their papers are reproduced in this issue of the Journal.Footnote 1
As a contrast to discussion of the place of religion (and the Church of England in particular) in the corridors of power in the nation, the conference heard papers from the Chief Education Officer of the Church of England, the Revd Janina Ainsworth, alongside Paul Barber, Director of Education of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster. Both papers showed the ongoing importance of church schools in the mix of educational provision and the common challenges facing Anglican and Catholic schools today. An area where establishment may be discerned but that is often overlooked in discussion is that of chaplaincy. Papers from the Chaplain General of the Prison Service, the Chaplain General of the Army and the Chaplain of St James’ University Hospital in Leeds demonstrated the importance of faith in public institutions and the positive contribution made by publicly funded chaplaincy services.
A convivial occasion as always, a particular highlight was the after-dinner speech given by the Dean of St Paul's, the Rt Revd Graham Knowles, who in his own inimitable style reflected on his experience as an ex-officio legislator and establishment figure while sitting in the Tynwald as Bishop of Sodor and Man. The toast was, inevitably, ‘The Queen and the Church of England’.
